Michael



(No ModeL) A. GARMIOHAEL &; S.-D. TOWNSEND.

CHECK BOOK.

No. 882,457. I Patented May 8, 1888.

N PETERS. Phalu-Lnhu nar, Washinglan, DC. v

UNITED STATES PATENT 'E icE.

ALEXANDER OARMIOHAEL AND SAMUEL D. TOWNSEND, OF VVESTERLY, RHODE ISLAND.

CHECK-BOOK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 382,457, dated May 8, 1888.

Application filed June 2'2, 1881. Serial No. 242.111. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, ALEXANDER OAR- MICHAEL, and SAMUEL D. TOWNSEND, both citizens of the United States, residing in Westerly, in the county of Washington, in the State of Rhode Island, have invented a certain new and. useful Improvement in Check- Books and in the Method of Copying,of which the following is a specification.

The invention applies to checkbooks and note-books and other papers representing values. The ordinary memorandums kept on fstubs, which remainattached after the re moval of the check or note,are liable to be erroneous through accident or design. We provide for keeping an exact copy of the whole or preferably only the written parts, so as to determine at any later period the manner of Writing. WVe'have discovered that it is possible to press-copy checks, notes, and the like and to retain in convenient books exact copies of a part or the whole of each check; but there are serious difficulties in the way. \Ve have given muchatteution to the question and believe that we have surmounted such difficulties, and have successfully reduced to practice the press-copying of checks and the convenient retention of the copies in books for reference. The chief difficulty of which we are aware lies in the unequal thickness of different parts of the book owing to the retention of the stubs and the removal of the checks-an inequality which increases as the checks are removed; but this inequality is always in the part of the book from which the checks have been removed. It does not exist in the-book at first. It does not obtain in the last part of the book when the checks have been half used, assuming that the checks are, as usual, removed in practically regular succession from the beginning to the middle and so on to the end.

The accompanying drawings form a part of the specification and represent what we consider the best means of carrying out the invention.

Figure 1 is an edge View showing a checkbook before any of the checks have been removed. It is in the closed condition. Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the book in the partially-opened condition. Fig. 2 is an edge view showing the book after a portion of the checks have been removed. The book is in the open condition. The portion at the left includes all the leaves from which no checks have been removed. This is in the act of be- &

ing compressed in a copying-press. The por tion at the right includes all that part from which the checks have been removed. This part is allowed to lie unafictethextending out horizontally from the press. The remaining figures show a modification. Both are edge views, showing the book in the closed condition. With this form of the invention the book may be treated in the press in the closed condition. Fig. 8 shows the book before any checks are removed, and Fig. 4 shows the same after nearly all the checks have been removed.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts in all the figures where they occur.

A is the stub-that portion of the thick writing-paper which remains permanently bound in the book. It lies adjacent to the back of. the book.

Ais that portion of the thick writing-paper which is to serve as acheck. It is connected weakly with A along a line, a, the weakening being caused by a line of perforations or in any other convenient manner to serve the usual ends. The paper A and A" is printed to facilitate the production of checks and of theordinarymemoranduinthereof. Tlieprintingis in copying-ink. The writing which fills out the check A and the memorandum on the stub A should be done in good copying-ink.

B aresheets of thin paper of aproper quality. for letter-press copying alternated between the thick sheets A A. The sheets 18 are transparent and are strongly and permanently bound in the book.

When a check-is filled out and a memorandum made on the stub A, as usual, the adjacent sheet 13 is dampened, if not already in condition for copying, and on applying the sheets properly together, whichis done by allowing them to come together, as they naturally will in consequence of both being bound together by one edge, the book in its open condition is introducedinthe ordinarycopy-prcss and the press is operated to take a copy.

The sheets must be applied together in the ICO i on several circumstances.

position to press the two sheets in question together with the sheets which succeed them in thebook. Thesesheets must notbepresscdwith those sheets which precede them, because they (the preceding sheets) have been mutilated by the removal of some or all the checks A,which precede the one in question, and that portion of the book occupied by the checks A is thinner than the part A, which is the stub. The amount of difference in the thickness depends One is the obvious one-the use of the checks by tearing themout and removing them while the stubs remain. In time the part of the book containing the checks becomes very much thinner than that containing the stubs.

In order to overcome the difficulty due to the gradually-increasing difference in thickness of the two parts of the book,we prefer to introduce the book into the press in the open condition, arranging the leaves to be treated, so that, as above stated, they shall be pressed with the leaves which have been retained complete in the last part of the book. The portion of the book which has been mutilated and is consequently of irregular thickness is allowed to extend idly out of the press in front or in rear, as convenience may dictate.

The copying may be proceeded with in other respects in the ordinary manner. There is paper which with suitable ink will take good copies without wetting. In case such paper is not used ordinary thin unsized transparent paper may be prepared by dampening with a brush or by the introduction of a wet blotter, or by other dampening means, and taking care to have thewett-ing slight and uniform and to provide a sheet of common newspaper or other sheet to prevent the copying-ink from possibly striking through into a sheet beyond. We effect the compression for a few seconds, as usual, in the press, then relax'thc pressure, open the press, take out the open book, remove the covering-pad if one has been employed, turn over the freshly-copied impression, tear off the original check and use it.

When, as usual, there are th rec or other considerable number of blanks on each page of the book, adapting the book to make a corresponding number of checks per page, there should be a piece of waste paper or a nicelyfitted piece of paper or other material introduced to cover any checks which are not to be copied.

An advantage very important under some circumstances is derived from our invention in the fact that a press-copy of the stub is also produced at the same operation, so that we can,if any question arises, remove from the book and send away not only the check A, but also the stub A, and still retain a facsimile of each.

Modifications can be made in the apparatus and in the treatment without departing from the principle or sacrificing the ad vantages of the invention. We can dispense with the stubs and depend on the presscopies retained on the sheets B alone fora knowledge of the several checks made and removed. We prefer to have all the security due to our invention without losing any of the security due to the stubs, and esteem the trouble of making the stubs amply paid for by the convenience they afford. Our invention gives another and different security,whioh may be used alone or with the stubs, as preferred.

The printing of the printed portion of the checks may be done by letter-types, stereotypes, lithography, plates, or in any suitable way. It may be done in a printing-ink which will copy, and thus the press-copy will be a complete check. It may be safer to use common insoluble printing-ink for the printed portion, and let the press copy show only the written part of each check.

If preferred, we can equip the book with a flexible cover, 0, which is thick, as at 0, over the part A of each leaf, and is thin over the part A. Figs. 3 and 4 show such a modifica tion. The difference in the thickness of the different parts of the cover is as great as the difference in thickness in the corresponding parts of the mass of paper inclosed between, even when the last of the checks are being copied. The difference being in the reverse direction, the cover being thick over the part A, and the body of the book being at first of uniform thickness throughout and afterward successively thinner and thinner in the part A, as the checks are removed the thick portions of the cover will always more than compensate for the difference in thickness of the respective parts of the body, and the press will exert a uniform pressure on all parts of the several checks, and will press but slightly upon the thicker portion of the book occupied by the stubs.

\Vhen no stubs are retained, there will still remain a thick portion of the book at and near the edge where the sheets are joined. The same method applies in the same manner to obtaining and preserving copies under such conditions. We prefer to retain stubs A of considerablewidth, as shown, in accordance with general practice, for the reason, among others, that the broad stubs give a wide margin for the placing of the open book irregularly and carelessly in the press without involving difficulty. If the book is narrow and the division-lino a close to the binding, and

if, in addition, the writing of the check is carried (as it is liable under such circumstances to be) close to the binding or the bound and thick edge of the book, then the book when open inthe press must be placed exactly. It must have its weak line a about in the edge of the press; but when a wide stub,'A, is left it is perfectly immaterial whether the whole or any part of the stub is in or out of the press.

We claim as our invention- The herein -described check-book, having the checks and stubs printed in copying-ink and comprising a number of leaves weakened 18th day of June, 1887, in the presence of two at a and forming stubs A and checks A, and subscribing witnesses. a number of sheets of press-copying paper B 1 alternated between said leaves and of eq ua l size therewith, asand for the purpose speci- Witnesses:

WILLIAM HOXsEY, FRED N. CARD.

In testimonf whereof we have hereunto set our hands, at Westerly, Rhode Island, this 

